In this fast-paced modern era, where everything we could ever want is just a link away, I believe it is even more important that the things we do are done with as much care as possible. No one really goes into thinking about how much of what we do harms the earth, just how convenient it would be to get whatever is it we need now. But this way of thinking has done nothing for our earth, and we are already starting to see the consequences of that. Temperatures consistently reaching the mid 30’s in May, an increase in storms, more heat related deaths, and this is only in the UK. I’m more concerned about the conditions abroad, where natural disasters are becoming increasingly common and deadly. However, I believe in being the change I want to see and starting with me. That is why I recently became a vegetarian a couple months ago. It was for many reasons, including the fact that the earth just can’t sustain billions of overwhelming meat-eaters. This has forced me to become better at cooking and producing my own meals, which avoids food waste and reduces my carbon footprint. While I usually just find recipes on social media, I also find websites like BBC Good Food have cheap and easy recipes to follow (my favourite is the marry me chickpeas by Helen Upshall!). As well as this, I have already familiarised myself with the public transport in the country I am going to study abroad in (Switzerland), as I do not plan to take Ubers/cabs around a city to travel it. I have downloaded the SBB Mobile app for Swiss transport and have got familiar with how to use it. It goes hand in hand with the 11th SDG Goal to ‘Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’. Zurich has a reputation of having an exceptionally good public transport system that is widely considered one of the best and most punctual in the world, and I plan to make the most of that. Finally, I would like to be mindful of how much I bring, swapping out single use things for more life-long alternatives. This also includes borrowing what I can rather than buying new and donating anything that I have in excess at the end for my trip. Although all these actions are small, I do believe that we must start somewhere, and I am excited to see how I can expand these small actions until we all live sustainably.
(https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/collections/1_best_vegetarian_recipes)
(https://www.sbb.ch/en)
